Domestic Difficulties

Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder are all using this week's summit to escape troubles at home — so why not Silvio Berlusconi? This was one VIP invite the Italian Prime Minister could have used, but the call never came. Instead, Berlusconi is at home dealing with escalating labor unrest, deepening consumer pessimism and fractious coalition partners.

It seems that everyone — doctors, judges, steelworkers, bus drivers — is venting anger over Berlusconi's handling of the economy. Last week a one-day strike of some 150,000 doctors and other medical workers forced the cancellation of nearly 700,000 nonemergency operations and appointments. Doctors, who are planning a two-day strike in March, complain that the government hasn't renewed their contract and is trying to replace the national health-care system with a strictly regional one. The strike was just the latest in a lengthening list, including walkouts by Alitalia employees and public-transport workers upset about salary freezes and job cuts. In Genoa, steelworkers clashed with police over some 700 expected layoffs, and magistrates angry about a proposed justice-system reform called a strike for next month. "You've got factory workers, professionals, working-class and middle-class people all saying the same thing: this government has not resolved the economic problems it said it would," says Guglielmo Epifani, head of Italy's largest labor union, CGIL. The strikes "should not be seen as disorder, but the effect of the disorder created by the government."

Berlusconi dismissed the protests. "Many are political strikes, promoted by leftist unionism," he said during a rare television interview. He also described recent surveys showing that Italians are pessimistic about the economy as "just lies." Berlusconi swept into office in 2001 with a much ballyhooed "Contract with Italians" that promised lower taxes, higher pension benefits and a long list of new public-works projects. But he has struggled to deliver.

He is also getting heat from his coalition allies — a disparate mix of post-Fascists, former Christian Democrats and the once-secessionist Northern League — who have been bickering among themselves, and with Berlusconi. His attempts to quell dissatisfaction with veiled threats and a shift of his economic team (but no major cabinet reshuffling) may have only delayed an inevitable confrontation. "While the country shows growing signs of discontent, the government remains consumed with its own internal maneuverings," says an opposition spokesman. Still, with his high profile abroad, Berlusconi manages to rise above domestic squabbling in the eyes of his supporters. Last week, he left behind the rancor in Rome and jetted off to Tripoli to meet with Muammar Gaddafi as the Libyan leader continues to seek rapprochement. It was a rare bright spot: Italy's stint as E.U. President ended on a down note in December with the failure to reach consensus on a European Constitution. And though observers say his exclusion from this week's summit should not necessarily be seen as a slap, it still leaves the Prime Minister to face the music at home and wonder what the Big Three are cooking up. "Optimism," Berlusconi told the TV audience, "is a duty for the Prime Minister." He always puts the best face on things.

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